The question is: Can he solve the Texans defensive problems? And if so, how fast?

If the Texans dominate the Colts on Sunday, it will be seen as more of a failing of a Manningless Colts and less of something specific to the Texans defense. If the Texans have trouble with the Colts, I guess The Wolf will need more bleach. What we’ve seen in the preseason has been a mix, but certainly at least from a sack perspective, better than anything we’ve seen from the Texans defense. Not just sacks. But sacks coming from a variety of players.

As I said in the previous blog post, no result of this game would truly surprise me. I liked a ton of what I saw from the defense in the preseason, but sometimes they looked confused just running their base defense.

This is a bit oldish, but it is the most direct explanation of what Kubiak expects of the team in 2011. So if you haven’t seen it, go ahead.

Note at the 13:12 mark, Kubiak says:

“And by the way, let’s get our butt in the stands early, we love you guys when you are there at warmups. How about that, will you do that for me, okay? We love that.”

This is what he said after the luncheon more on what he wanted to say to fans:

“Well I think I just gave them my message. First off, I appreciate everything they do for our organization. I told them how I felt about last year, which wasn’t very good and we’re all in that together and accept responsibility for that. We’re looking forward for a chance to respond this year. We’re excited. I asked them to get in the seats early because our players love that, so hopefully that didn’t make anybody mad at me, but our players do love that when we warm up. We’re just looking forward to a new season. We’ve got some work to do Thursday night, but we’re looking forward to getting started.”

Get Into the Stadium Early, Peoples

I think that’s fair. Why not? If you don’t want Same Old Texans, why act like Same Old Fans? There’s plenty of players on this team who are experiencing the regular season Texans fanbase for the first time. Don’t blame them for the past.

And I don’t want to paint the fanbase with one brush because there are tons of fans who routinely go into the stadium early. But there’s a lot of folks that take their time from the tailgates or underestimate how long it takes to get into the parking lot and then into the stadium. It looks like it would be quicker than it is, and it takes a while going up the escalators or ramps on game day, even if you are only going to the field level

There’s extra reasons to go in early on Sunday. The entire NFL will be commemorating 9/11 with pregame events/video board tributes. I’m planning on the waterproof mascara as I am sure I will get something in my eye.

Oh, and it is the Liberty White game. The team wants everyone to wear white. That’s not too hard.

White is cooler in the parking lot though a bit perilous with BBQ. Don’t be the guy that ruins the gameday picture by wearing non-white. If you can pay for a ticket, well, surely you have something white in your closet to wear.

Grantland Season Preview

Friend of the blog, Bill Barnwell did a 4 part series about the various NFL teams in ESPN’s Grantland. Barnwell, who used to be with Football Outsiders has never been particularly bullish on the Texans in the past but puts the Texans in the grouping, “Who has a shot at the Lombardi Trophy?” Worth reading the whole series.

The Peyton Manningless Colts of Indianapolis

Chase Stuart at the excellent, time-burning Pro-Football-Reference blog talks about some of the numbers relating to what the Colts might be like without Manning. The conclusion isn’t different than a lot of people think, but like in getting a math question right, he shows his work.

Your Game Prediction?

My head says I want the Texans to get a W by any means possible. My heart says that I want them to do a sinkhole stomping of the Colts, to stomp the ever-living uh hope out of them.

I don’t always get what I want. But if I try some time, I just might find, I get what I need. What say you?